Chicken Sausage Veggie Bowl with German Riesling #winePW

Chicken Sausage Veggie Bowl, served over quinoa and topped with a tasty honey mustard sauce for a healthy meal. Delicious served with a German Riesling. Disclosure: the wine was provided as a complimentary sample by Winesellers LTD.

We have had a nice supply of German Rieslings, and a few other German wines, to sample for this month’s Wine Pairing Weekend. Thanks to Nancy from Pull That Cork for hosting this #winePW focused on German wine.

Today I’m featuring one of the best new recipes I came up with to pair with Riesling– a healthy Chicken Sausage Veggie Bowl. Stay tuned for a roundup of all the pairings I put together.

A Chicken Sausage Veggie Bowl with Riesling

Knowing I had quite a few opportunities to test out some food pairings for Riesling, I sought some input from some Riesling fans about pairings they like. Sausage and mustard flavors was an idea that caught my attention, and led me to today’s pairing.

Riesling can definitely handle some spice, especially if it has some residual sugar. With that in mind, I used an Andouille chicken sausage for this recipe, which definitely has some garlicky kick. The sausage gets cooked along with cabbage and onions. I have definitely like the pork and cabbage combo with riesling, so figured this would work nicely.

Our Chicken Sausage Veggie Bowl gets topped with a honey mustard sauce. I agree with my friend who suggested mustard would be a good call, and the honey aspect certainly picked up some of the sweet notes in the Riesling we opened.

Dr. Pauly-Bergweiler Riesling

I’m still really just getting acquainted with the various German Riesling terms, so don’t have great expertise for determining which Rieslings to pick for a particular meal.

I did start to get a few basic ideas down. “Trocken” means the Riesling will be bone dry. “Spätlese” means a late harvest Riesling, and it will likely be on the sweeter side.

This article on Riesling suggests that “Kabinett” can refer to hitting the sweet spot, with just a bit of sugar. I thought that description sounded good as a pairing for our Chicken Sausage Veggie Bowl recipe.

We opened the 2016 Dr. Pauly-Bergweiler Wehlender Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett ($26, 8% ABV) to go with our chicken sausage bowl. I got lemon peel and apple on the nose. On the palate, honey and green apple fruit, and flint notes underlying the fruit.

This Riesling has a bit more sweetness than I expected for a Kabinett style, but that actually worked nicely with the spice of the Andouille sausage and the honey mustard sauce. This was a very good pairing! Not a surprise — Riesling is one of the most food-friendly wines around. Stay tuned for more of the tasty pairings we enjoyed to go with our Riesling samples.

Dr. Pauly-Bergweiler’s vineyards are located throughout the Mosel River Valley, including some of the best locations on river valley hillsides. The prime growing areas tended by this winemaker include Wehlener Sonnenuhr, where the Riesling we enoyed is produced. For more on the estate, visit their web page on the Winesellers LTD site.

Chicken Sausage Veggie Bowl

Chicken sausages cooked with cabbage and kale, topped with a honey mustard sauce. Served with quinoa for a healthy, easy meal. Delicious with a German Riesling!

Author:Cooking Chat

Prep Time:10 mins

Cook Time:30 mins

Total Time:40 mins

Yield:4 servings

Category:Main

Method:stove top

Cuisine:fusion

Ingredients

For the chicken sausage veggie bowl

3 small chicken sausages (9 ozs total), I used Andouille flavor

1 onion, chopped

2 cups cabbage, chopped

1 cup kale, stemmed and chopped

1/2 cup chicken broth, low sodium

2 cups cooked quinoa, for serving

For the honey mustard sauce

2 tbsp honey

2 tbsp mustard

1/2 tsp soy sauce

1/4 tsp garlic powder

pinch of cayenne

Instructions

Spray a large skillet with oil spray. Heat the skillet on medium, and add the sausage to brown. Turn the sausage occasional to brown on all sides. Remove when browned, about 5 minutes, and set aside on a plate to cool. Slice the sausage into half inch thick pieces when cooled.

Add olive oil, followed by the the onion and sauté for 5 minutes to soften the onion. Add the cabbage and cook for a few more minutes.

Stir in the kale, followed by the chicken broth. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook on medium low for 10 minutes.

After the vegetables simmer covered for 10 minutes, stir the sliced sausage back into the skillet, and cook for another 10 minutes.

As the vegetables and sausage cook, make the honey mustard sauce by combining the honey, mustard, soy sauce, garlic powder and cayenne. Stir to combine well and set aside.

To serve, place about half a cup of cooked quinoa in a bowl and top with a scoop or two of the chicken and veggie mixture. Finish the chicken sausage veggie bowl by drizzling some honey mustard sauce over it. Enjoy with a German Riesling!

Notes

The 1 cup of kale is measured after removing the thick stem.

You could serve this dish with brown rice if you prefer, instead of the quinoa.

Oh, I bet this dish was spicy. I love andouille and using chicken andouille is a great idea. This was one of the most enjoyable Wine Pairing Weekends in some time. There was a lot to learn with German wines, but I feel like I made some headway and I certainly enjoyed the selection of wines sent by Winesellers LTD. Cheers!

I was surprised at how dry the wine I paired was. I am not familiar with German wines either but I am having fun exploring them. I may just make your recipe for dinner one night this week and try the same pairing. Thanks.